Collegio Online

Issue date: 11/21/02 Section: Campus Life

Maeve Cummings, a computer science professor, grew up in Ireland. After her decision to attend an American college, Cummings chose PSU because of the town size and tuition

At the age of 19, many Pitt State students are worrying about choosing a major, what to do on the weekends, or whether or not gnomes actually exist under all those rocks. When Maeve Cummings, associate professor in the Computer Science and Information Systems department, was 19, she was in Berlin during the Cold War, in a country where she neither knew the language nor the people.

Cummings grew up in Ireland, and moved to Germany when she was only 19. "I was young and wanted to see the world," she says.
Berlin was an occupied city when Cummings lived there, and she said that the American, French and British military decided what happened there. "It was an interesting kind of city to be in," she says.

When her parents advised her to at least learn the language, she simply
said, "I'll be fine." Cummings learned German the hard way, by immersing herself in the culture and language.

"It wasn't the easiest way, but it was the most effective," she remembers.

Effective it was, for her last job during her eight years in Germany was
working for the American consulate, where she translated newspapers for American officials.

"There was an incredible amount of information," she says. "The United
States wanted to keep track of what the rest of the world was saying about them."

After her years in Germany, Cummings decided to return to school. So, she got a list of American schools and decided to attend Pittsburg State
University. She chose Pittsburg because she had lived in bigger cities all her life and wanted a change. Another factor in her decision was that she could afford the tuition.

"When I came here, I was broke," she said. "I paid $33 per hour for my first three summer classes, and I paid for them with my last $100 travelers' check."

Cummings later received loans from several sources, as well as government grants. She says that one of the reasons she was able to continue her education was the people's "generosity of spirit."

"The people welcomed me, were good to me and helped me much more than they needed to," she says.

Continued...

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